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MERALCO made a huge second-half eruption to overtake Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, 95-77, on Friday to level their best-of-five semifinal series at the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup in the gym of the Angeles University Foundation in Pampanga on Friday.
Chris Newsome, Allein Maliksi and Baser Amer turned things in over the past two quarters to help veteran head coach Norman Black’s Bolts overcome a lethargic first half and tie the best-of-five series at 1-1.
“We just talked about the fact that we couldn’t go 0-2 because we won’t have a chance to come back in this series. So this game is very, very important to us, ”Black said.
“We found out in Game One exactly what we’re up against defensively and offensively and we made some adjustments to try and be able to beat this team tonight,” Black added of his Game One loss, 96-79, last Wednesday.
Going 42-55 early in the third quarter, the Bolts exploded with a calculated 23-11 run to take the lead going into the final period, 65-61. They uncorked a 30-16 kick in the fourth quarter to close out the win.
Newsome, who scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half plus six assists, gave the Bolts their biggest lead, 91-70, with 2:37 left.
“It is a great team effort today. I think a lot of guys came out and gave a lot of energy, which is important to us and of course we want to focus on our defense and that showed today, ”Newsome said.
Kier John Quinto added 14 points, which he made 10 in the second quarter, while Maliksi added 11 of his 14 points in the final two quarters for the Bolts, who also got double-double performances from greats Cliff Hodge and 6-foot-7. Raymond Almazan.
Hodge had 12 points and 11 rebounds, while Almazan had 11 points and the same number of rebounds. Amer made eight of his 10 points in the fourth quarter.
Despite coming out of a tedious quarter-final where they dethroned San Miguel Beer, Meralco played well to forge the deadlock.
“There’s no question about that, but everyone is tired right now,” Black said. “The players have been playing a lot of basketball for the last two months and of course it’s going to affect your legs. That extra day or two extra days off makes a big difference and it really shows in the Geneva game. “
Japeth Aguilar led Geneva with 17 points and eight rebounds, while Lewis Alfred Tenorio had 16 points.
Game 3 is set on Sunday at 6:45 pm
